Not So Killer Wasp

While the news is buzzing about the killer hornets in China, I thought I'd share my not-so-deadly wasp that I took pictures of three weeks or so ago. We have mud wasps that have decided to build a home right outside our door. This is the second nest they've tried to build there in the years we've lived in the house. We'll have to call someone to come and take care of it. I'd think about doing it myself, but...well...I'm not insane. Bees I like, wasps I do not.

So we often have wasps flying around the front of the house and one afternoon I found a very cooperative subject sitting on the window. It was one of our 100 plus days last month and I think it was trying to suck the cold air-conditioning through the window. I snapped pictures, I changed settings on the camera, and I took even more pictures. The one below is my favorite. I think the lighting works. I just love how much of this odd strangely beautiful creature you can see. And I love the big eyes. Of course I'd still kill one if it came indoors.

Knitting Night Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I've spent most of the evening out knitting. That means I'm energized but it's way to late to do a decent post. So instead I'm putting up a picture or two. I thought I'd share a couple from my recent trip to the Iowa State Fair. I know you'll be surprised but most of these will be animal focused.

I love the fair and I particularly like walking through the animal barns. This year the animal production industry opened their new educational facility. It's an attempt by the industry to fight against the stereotypes that we animal activists are creating. I'm not buying it but the animals there were pretty cute.

Like a baby ostrich. Yeah that's an ostrich! He was about a foot tall.

Or the baby turkeys. These were tough to watch. They kept pecking at each other.

There were quite a few miniature horses this year. And I mean miniature.

And on the other end there was the biggest boar. This sucker was huge.

Lastly, there was a pretty fish. Well okay a knitted fish. I want to make one.

Ketchikan

I've been trying to wrap my mind around my column today. I had most of it planned out this morning but over my lunch hour I found out about a death in my extended family and haven't been able to think of anything else since. I've been upset for most of the afternoon but I think that writing this would be the best thing for me. I need to take a step out of my own head and do something that would make me happy. But forgive me if this isn't quite as good as it should be. The city was fascinating, my head just isn't there.

The city of Ketchikan

Ketchikan is something of a tourist town but that doesn't mean that it isn't incredibly beautiful. And interesting. The city is currently a fishing port and a lumber city but the history of the city is what kept me interested. After stepping off the boat we were surrounded by the standard port city sights (meaning tourist shop after tourist shop after tourist shop, with a ton of jewelry stores mixed in). But we quickly walked past those and right into a beautiful park. With all the extra sunshine and extra rain, Alaska's flowers are extra beautiful. The park, Whale Park, was an oasis of calm in a sea of knickknacks. But the great thing about it was that it lead us to Creek Street, and that ended up being the most interesting part of the city.

Creek Street

Creek Street is exactly what it sounds like. The street is cut by a creek during low tide and a rushing river during high tide. The creek runs heavily through the city, serving as an outlet for salmon and some of the more questionable elements of the city. Creek Street was the red light district for Ketchikan. It was filled with bars and brothels and I loved every minute of it. We toured Dolly's House, the residence of Ketchikan's most famous madam. This woman was still turning tricks at 70 and was making $75-$100 a day in her prime (at $3 a pop that's a lot of tricks). She even used French silk condoms to decorate her bathroom. As a condom collector, I was in heaven.

Dolly's Condom Flowers

The brothels lead us to the Married Man's Walk, a great hiking trail that climbed up into the mountains behind Ketchikan. It was the path that many of the married men used to visit the red light district secretly, and weaving through the trees and waterfalls, I could see how it would be perfect secret. It was a great way to get away from the hustle and bustle of the tourists. For most of the trail we were completely alone.

Hiking the Married Man's Walk

After hiking we went shopping in a little bookstore where I bought way too many books. Then we headed over to the Great American Lumberjack Show, a must see in Ketchikan. Jeff and I have been fans of the Great Outdoor Games for quite a while so I was pretty excited to see some lumberjacks in action. The show was cheesy and touristy but fun. Jeff took some great pictures. When the show finished it was time to leave Ketchikan. We headed back to the boat and set sail early that afternoon for Juneau. Which will be tomorrow...maybe.

Accentuate the Positive

This is just another cleansing post. I promise to have something better soon but my head is really not in it tonight. I don't want to talk about the fiasco that is my work situation right now mostly because I don't want to think about it. So tonight is more pictures. More images that make me happy. More nothingness. Enjoy. I'll try to have something of substance tomorrow. Hopefully things will be a little more stable tomorrow.

This is the image that is my wallpaper at the current moment. It is my favorite hummingbird picture that I took last summer.

A pumpkin to usher in the fall

And last year's firework display to send the summer out properly.

Again sorry all. I'll have something better tomorrow.

Foggy Morning

I walked out the door this morning to go to work and found this.
I just had to run back in for the camera. I didn't even know we had a spider living in those bushes and hadn't seen this rather elaborate web. But the fog made it look like a big cotton ball and I had to take a picture.

I'm one of those odd people who actually kind of likes spiders. Well, as long as they don't dangle from a web and surprise me. They have free reign to live on my ceilings or outside in the bushes or siding. The ones in the siding grow huge with amazing webs. I'll try to post some pictures later in the summer when they are well established.

And the fog makes me happy. It feels very springy here with the fog and the rain. Most of the blossoms are out and everything is green. It puts me in a great mood.

Epic Fail

For a while I've been reading Icanhascheezburger.com. Although I cringe at the language (English majors everywhere are whimpering), these are just too funny. For those who haven't been, readers submit pictures of their cats and other animals along with funny captions. They make my day a little brighter. And I've even got Jeff reading them. 

So today we spent a little time with the website and noticed that they had other tabs at the top. One tabs had nostalgic items, toys and shows from my childhood. Another had funny images of dogs with captions. And our favorite was Fail Blog. This has reader submissions of pictures and videos that are just wrong. A sign that may not say what they thought it said. Spelling errors on tattoos. And just general human stupidity. I laughed until I cried. My stomach hurt. I'm still working through the archives but this is just hilarious stuff. 

One of my favorite pictures.

And here is my favorite video so far.